If you’ve ever heard of rocker Jon Bon Jovi’s philanthropy on behalf of a Philadelphia non-profit that creates permanent housing and support resources for the city’s homeless population, that was Project HOME. The HOME stands for Housing, Opportunities, Medical and Education. It makes sense that Housing is first in the list, because many homeless advocates consider stable housing to be the most pivotal initial step to getting homeless Americans back on their feet. The organization’s mission statement: “The mission of the Project HOME community is to empower adults, children, and families to break the cycle of homelessness and poverty, to alleviate the underlying causes of poverty, and to enable all of us to attain our fullest potential as individuals and as members of the broader society. We strive to create a safe and respectful environment where we support each other in our struggles for self-esteem, recovery, and the confidence to move toward self-actualization.” It may sound ambitious, but it’s working. Project HOME just celebrated its 30th year and is on track to provide 1,000 units of affordable housing in Philadelphia within a few years. The organization is also a longtime Yardi client. We recently caught up with Patrick Farrell, Project HOME’s business/financial analyst, who is a passionate advocate for the non-profit’s use of the Yardi affordable housing platform. Farrell has worked on Project HOME’s Yardi platform for the last six years – the organization has used the software for about twice that duration. “Yardi is the workhorse application for us at Project HOME,” said Farrell, whose job supports the property, accounting and human resources departments of the non-profit. “It is the foundation of all of the other applications that we use throughout our business.” As the organization’s mainstay database, Yardi Voyager data powers all...

Arriving at the Rittenhouse Claridge in Center City Philadelphia on a cold winter’s night in January, the first thing you might notice is a charming string of white holiday lights over the lobby door. Stepping out of the cab into sub-freezing temperatures with wind chill, ducking inside the warm and welcoming lobby felt like stepping into the apartment of a dear friend. We were visiting Philadelphia to see first-hand how Yardi client the Kaiserman Company uses Yardi’s Procure to Pay platform to optimize its procurement process, streamlining ordering and delivery and making invoice approvals easier than ever before. Procure to Pay has helped Kaiserman save $60,000 annually, reduce paper use by 50 percent, and redirect staff time to other important tasks. The company uses the Yardi Voyager platform for its multifamily and commercial portfolios, and after implementing two years ago, has found the cloud-hosted solution to be invaluable. “We love it. I have been in the industry for awhile, used many different platforms, and Yardi is by far my favorite. Our leasing teams, our management teams and even our corporate office have access to Yardi. It just makes doing everyday tasks simpler,” said property manager Eric Schulz. The Rittenhouse Claridge One of just two apartment buildings located right on Philadelphia’s iconic Rittenhouse Square, the Rittenhouse Claridge was built in the 1950s by its current owner/operators, the Kaiserman Company. Over the last several years, an effort to restore the property to its midcentury roots has been underway, with charming results. On the building’s second floor, a sprawling common area with comfortable seating, fireplaces, reading nooks, game tables, a kitchen and private meeting spaces overlooks the Square. In one corner is the spacious gym, where a line of treadmills looks directly over the park. The vibe...

Over the last eight years, Michael and Matthew Pestronk, CEO and President of Post Brothers Apartments, have created a unique brand of Class A apartments for the Philadelphia market. Their latest major project is no exception. Presidential City, a John McShain project built in the early 1950’s that Post Brothers acquired in 2012 for $51 million, needed a fresh start. Updates had never been made to the 1,038 apartment interiors, and as Michael Pestronk says, “it just had not had any love in a really long time.” Kitchens were three decades old, bathrooms dated a half-century back. The first of four apartment towers was delivered this fall and is completely occupied. The $210 million redevelopment project is a complete renovation and reimagining of Presidential City. Each tower will have a unique theme and character, and the former Pool Club is undergoing a transformation to a world class spa and health club. “We’re making something that’s truly world class,” Pestronk says. Read on for more insight on Presidential City. This is a huge project. Can you put the size and scale in context? Pestronk: This is the largest residential development in the city of Philadelphia. Not just in the city proper, but also in the surrounding region. It’s located at the intersection of two of the heaviest trafficked highways in the region. It’s also very physically prominent. John McShain was from Philadelphia and built most of the monuments in Washington, D.C. He originally had a master plan to do 48 towers with something like 20,000 Philadelphia apartments. He built the first four, and eventually sold off the rest of the land. What is the overview of the renovation plan? Pestronk: We are not just renovating, but completely redeveloping. The outside façade of the properties looks...

Though Philadelphia is a major city, on the whole, many apartment developers haven’t sought out to construct new buildings in the area. However, Yardi client LCOR, a real estate development, management and investment company, is looking to expand their pipeline in the area, which they consider to have unique attributes. “I think this is an important time in Philadelphia real estate. There’s a lot of activity, but it’s a market that has seen moderate but steady growth over the years,” Donald Tracy, vice president, LCOR, says. According to Tracy, a reason that the market in Philadelphia is growing is because the population of young professionals is growing.  “So many of the college students that come here for their education stay here,” he says. “There’s an opportunity to provide quality housing for that group in an institutionally financed way that perhaps was a slow process in the past few years, but has grown over the last two years. There is a significant pipeline in the next few years that will continue to grow.” Though LCOR sees a lot of advantages in developing in Philadelphia, they are aware of some challenges. “I think there is somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000 units in the pipeline to be delivered over the next several years, and while there’s fairly robust demand for that pipeline, you have to be careful to deliver the right product in extraordinary locations and create a product that meets demand,” Tracy says. “The other component of it is that when the economy gets better, the demographics get better and there’s more of a shift towards development in the region, I think there’s a fairly direct correlation in construction pricing. I think we need to continue to monitor that very closely to make sure the...

Across all sectors of the real estate marketplace, Yardi clients are innovators when it comes to development, management, operations and producing returns on investment. In Philadelphia, Yardi client Post Brothers is defining a new niche in multifamily living with units that are both eco-friendly and targeted to the renter who appreciates luxury and high quality of life. “The Goldtex Lofts can best be described as a new breed of Eco-Chic apartments. Not only are these luxury units on the cutting edge of design with the highest-end amenities, they were built with the most advanced environmental features available, creating a new standard for green development in Philadelphia and beyond,” Post Brothers CEO Mike Pestronk told Multi-Housing News’ Jessica Fiur. You can find the full interview with Pestronk about the project, including details on the design and environmentally-conscious aspects of the project,  on Multi-Housing...